


The Joke is On You

by aimlessly_wandering



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Boys Kissing, Con Artists, Don't worry he goes back to his sweet self eventually, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, Harry thinks he's conning Louis, It's the other way around, Liam is a Little Shit, M/M, Manipulating, That's an actual tag!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:55:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6283501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimlessly_wandering/pseuds/aimlessly_wandering
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><br/>"When Harry woke up, his muscles were sour and his head pounded. he spent two hours staring at the ceiling of his bedroom before deciding to find a new job."<br/><br/><br/> Or: the one in which Harry, Liam and Niall are con artists who work for Simon, but then things go downhill when Harry decides that he no longer wants to work with them, Louis is only there to steal Harry's money but ends up with his own heart stolen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, I don't think anyone is going to read this, but if somehow someone ended up here I apologize for any grammatical mistakes, this my first time writing anything longer than 300 words and English is not my first language, but feel free to correct me if there's anything. 
> 
> Disclaimer: this is originally based on the arabic movie "1/8 دستة اشرار", obviously I had to make a few twists but still I don't own the main plot.  
> Also, I do not own anyone or anything(obvs), and I know nothing about the legal side of this so don't sue me.

  
1.  
It's not like it was his first time doing this, it's just that he had a really bad feeling about this one, and he tried to warn Liam about it but the older boy told him _not to worry and to focus on doing your part and then everything would go smoothly._

  
'Smoothly my arse', he thinks as Niall daps a flannel at a scrape on his forehead, he winces, tells him not to press so hard and goes back to cursing Liam. "I told you that I don't think this one is going to work out, I told you that I wasn't prepared, and what do you do? You go with it anyway! " he says, his words a bit muffled around the cotton he has in his mouth, trying to ease off the bleeding on the inner side of his right cheek, the taste of metal making him feel more sick than he already is.

  
"Harry, I know you're upset but now you're kind of overreacting. " Liam says calmly, blowing his cigarette smoke out of the window, ignoring Niall's glare. "Overreacting?! Overreacting?! Are you fucking serious? I'd just gotten the shit kicked out of me while you and your boyfriend hid in your fucking car and observed! " Niall presses hard with the flannel at the use of the word 'boyfriend', but Harry doesn't have time for their stupid foreplay that's been going on for the past five years.

"Calm down, you know that we couldn't have done anything, it's not like I enjoyed watching those guys beating you, but what did you want us to do? Try to help you? Then what? Who would've been there to carry you after they left?" Liam says and Harry just turns his head.

he thinks he might have a concussion, judging by the headache he's currently suffering from, and Liam is only making it worse.

  
He stands up, wincing again as his weight falls on his sprained ankle, and heads to his bedroom, not before telling both of his guests to kindly fuck off and to not forget to lock the fucking door when they leave cause the last thing he needs is someone trying to break in, then slams the door.

  
He goes to his in suite bathroom and stares at the mirror, it's not as bad as he thought it was, but still, he looks horrid.

There's a bandage on the middle of his forehead that Niall has put there, his left eye is starting to swell and there's a bruise that's currently purpling on his jaw, again, it could've been worse. He spits out the cotton that was still lodged in his mouth, brushes his teeth and goes back to his room, trying not to fall asleep for the next 24 hours, concussion and all, but ends up falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

  
**  
_*earlier that day*_  
_At first, everything was going as planned, he had met the guy he was supposed to meet exactly at the café where they planned. it went smoothly, they exchanged the bags, Harry's filled with euros, the other man's bag filled with some other form of currency that he didn't bother asking about, the man opened the bag, checked his euros as discreetly as possible, then sat it aside._

_Harry nodded at Liam who sat right behind that man, that's when Niall stepped in, walking on crutches and pretending to stumble upon something, causing a mess which distracted the man long enough for Liam to switch his paper-filled bag with the one the other man had at his side._

  
_Liam left the café they were in and so did Niall, Harry said goodbye and stood up to leave, only to be stopped by a man shaped wall, he turned around to find the man's angry face looking up from the paper filled bag to Harry's face._

  
_Meanwhile, sat in a car, Liam knew that something has gone wrong, and judging from the look on Niall's face he knew as well. That's when they saw Harry being dragged into a car by two men, they looked at each other and followed them._

_Eventually the car stopped and the man watched his guards beat Harry until he passed out, then they took their original bag, got into their cars and drove away. As soon as their cars were no longer seen, Liam went out and got Harry, carried him to his car and left._

  
**  
When Harry woke up, his muscles were sour and his head pounded. he spent two hours staring at the ceiling of his bedroom before deciding to find a new job.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

It takes Harry two days to tell Liam and Niall. They are all hanging out in Harry’s living room, munching on Chinese food and watching Top Gear reruns when he says it, “I don’t want to work for Simon anymore.” Liam nods his head, not really listening, too focused on James May trying to explain something that it takes him a few seconds to understand what Harry just said.

“What?” he asks his tone flat. “I said that I don’t want to work for Simon anymore,” Harry repeats slowly, as if he is explaining something to a child. “I don’t want what happened two days ago to happen again, I don’t know about you guys but I'm done.” “Well you can’t just quit!” Liam says incredulously, “of course I can Liam, and I will.” Comes Harry’s reply.

Liam just stares at him and Harry sighs, “What? Did you expect me to spend the rest of my life working with Simon? I have to stop at some point. Also, in case you have not noticed, I'm 26 now, I've been working with Simon for the past five years, I need to find something to do and stick with it. You are not planning on doing this for the rest of your life, are you?” 

A tense silence settles around them, both lads staring at each other until it’s too much to bear so Niall finally says in a low tone “he's right, you know? It’s time for us to stop.” Liam turns his stare to Niall, feeling betrayed, before he stands up and starts pacing around the room.

“have you lost your minds? Do you really want to quit? Then what? What the hell am I supposed to do? Should I go back to live with my parents at that sodden town and spend my days listening to my dad talking about his dead-end job? Or do you want me to stay here and waste away all the money that I worked so hard for?” he sounds like he's about to have a panic attack.

“calm down Li,” Niall says, standing up and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, “you don’t have to go back, you can find a normal job to do, or we can start some sort of a business together, all three of us, right Harry?” he turns his head to the younger lad who nods and stands as well, “I'm tired of doing this, Liam, all of us are, why don’t we just stop and do something else? It’s not going to be as hard as you think it will.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Harry! I can’t go back to being poor again, I don’t like it, I don’t find any sort of novelty in living in shitty flats or eating pot noodles every night like you do, I can’t imagine myself having to wake up every day to ride the fucking tube and spend 8 hours setting at a desk only to go through that same fucking tube ride, I just can’t, and I won’t. I like where I am now. I like my expensive flat, I like my fancy kitchen and I like not having to wake up at any specific hour! So if you two want to quit then quit, I don’t care, just don’t expect me to do the same.” He says lastly before grabbing his coat and leaving Harry’s flat, slamming the door shut behind him.

Harry and Niall stare silently, their mouths agape before Niall says, “I should follow him.” Harry only nods and Niall grabs his own coat and leaves.

***

It is not until a week later that Simon calls Liam, telling him to stop by at his office to have a chat, Liam agrees, and when he enters Simon’s office he finds the bearded man staring at him, his gaze unsettling, “have a seat, Liam.” he says, forgoing any form of greeting. Liam sits down, his hands shaking under the table. Something about this man just gives him creeps, makes him go all jittery and anxious.

It’s not that weird though, considering the fact that he's setting in front of a man who is publicly known as The Great Simon Cowell -capital letters and all- the rich executive whose face is on almost every billboard in the city and half of the skyscrapers hold his name. What they do not know, however, is that this exact same man is one of the biggest con artists in this side of the pond. From stealing and selling art pieces to money washing, this man has done it all.

“I heard about what happened to Harry, is he well?” Simon asks, his gaze still fixated on Liam, “yes, he is fine.” He replies, Simon nods, “then I assume he’ll be ready for the next operation, we have a big client this time and I don’t want you boys missing this up.” He says and Liam grits his teeth, he had always hated when Simon calls them ‘boys’, makes him feel more young and weak and insignificant in Simon’s presence. It just feels as if the older man is mocking them.

“You don’t have to worry about Harry, he will not be joining us anymore, but I assure you, Niall and I can handle this just as fine.” He replies smoothly, trying to gauge the older man’s reaction.

Simon looks angry though, which he rather expected, “what do you mean ‘Harry will not be joining us anymore’?” he asks, his tone rising. “after what happened last time he decided that he needn’t to do this anymore, says he has made enough money to start on some sort of a project that he has had in mind since he was in culinary school.” Liam shrugs at the last bit of his speech, Niall told him that this was the plan.

“It doesn’t work like that Liam; we both know that without Harry your dynamic will flop, you have to get him back.” Simon says, sounding much more serious and a bit worried now, they were, after all, the ones running his business here in the UK and he could not afford losing them. “I tried Simon, I did, but he's not having it, says that he no longer needs the money and that he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life doing this.”

“I don’t care what he wants,” Simon bursts, slamming his hand on his desk and Liam flinches, “if he thinks that he has made enough money then we’ll take it away from him, that will surly make him crawl back here.”

“you’re not suggesting… do you want me to _steal_ his money?” it’s Liam’s turn to sound angry now, but Simon shakes his head, “we’re not going to steal his money, simmer down, we’re just going to _borrow_ it for a bit, then when he's back to his senses we’ll return it.”

Liam thinks about it for a bit but then says, “Nobody knows where Harry keeps his money, not even his mum or his sister.” Simon only smirks and says, “That’s your problem Liam, by the end of this month I want Harry here at my office asking me to hire him again.”

***

After leaving Simon’s office Liam feels like his world is coming to an end, there’s no way to find where Harry keeps his money, the young lad was smart enough not to tell him where he hides it, so he does the only thing he can think of.

***

As soon as he enters the pub, his senses are clouded with the heavy scent of cigarette smoke, alcohol and sweat. He goes to the bar, orders a whiskey and dawns it in one gulp before asking for another. He is on his third glass when he hears the sound of someone making a fuss.

He turns his head out of curiosity to stare at the man who is currently calling the bartender a _fookin loser,_ his accent is northern and sounds thick with alcohol; he looks somewhat intimidating despite his compact frame. He is not short, but he is not tall either. His voice is loud, high-pitched and raspy; his hair is soft and messy, styled in a fringe, and his clothes are dirty and battered.

“I can’t keep giving you these drinks for free, Louis, you’re drunk enough as it is, you need to leave now before I have to call in for someone to drag you out.” The bartender says to who seems to be Louis, but clearly he is not having it, he raises his voice even louder and tells him to _do his fookin job._

The man is handsome, Liam thinks objectively, he is beautiful, despite his dirty clothes and greasy hair, and although he likes his men more toned and a bit less curvy, he knows that if Harry were here he would be absolutely drooling over his small frame and thick thighs.

And just like a lightning bolt, it hits him.

This is it; this man is the only one who can help him.

***                                                      

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again! I know this is a bit short but I'll try to make the following ones longer.  
> feel free to correct me if there’s anything wrong  
> also, feed back is always welcome!  
> Stay lovely!!


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